David Crisafulli


David Frank Crisafulli is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017, representing the Gold Coast-based electorate of Broadwater. He was previously member for the North Queensland-based electorate of Mundingburra from 2012 to 2015, and was initially Minister for Local Government, and then Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience during the premiership of Campbell Newman, from 2012 to 2015.

Early life

Born and raised in Ingham, Queensland, Crisafulli graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism degree from James Cook University in Townsville in 2000.
In 1998 he returned to his home town of Ingham as a cadet reporter at the Herbert River Express.
In 2000, Crisafulli moved into television, becoming a journalist with WIN News in Townsville and was made chief of staff of the Townsville newsroom in 2002. During this time Crisafulli also worked as a correspondent for The Australian and the Sunday Mail newspapers, did weekly work for DMG radio as a newsreader and lectured in journalism at James Cook University.

Politics

In 2003, Crisafulli was appointed as a ministerial media advisor the then Howard Government Minister and Liberal Senator for Queensland, Ian Macdonald. In 2004, he successfully ran for what was then the 100% Labor Party-controlled Townsville City Council, breaking the Labor Party's stranglehold on the Council. In 2008 he was re-elected to Council, topping the poll of 49 candidates; and was elected deputy mayor, an office he held until his resignation in 2012 to run for a seat in the Queensland Parliament. During his second term on Council, Crisafulli was elected as the Chairman of the Townsville City Council's Planning Committee.
In the 2012 Queensland state election held on 24 March 2012, Crisafulli was elected to Legislative Assembly of Queensland in the seat of Mundingburra as a member of the Liberal National party. He served as the Minister for Local Government from 3 April 2012. On 4 February 2013, his role was expanded to be Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience. He re-contested Mundingburra in the 2015 Queensland state election held on 31 January 2015 but was defeated by Labor candidate Coralee O'Rourke.
Following his 2015 election loss, Crisafulli and his family relocated to Hope Island on Queensland's Gold Coast. He subsequently ran a small business giving advice on dealing with government and business development opportunities.
In May 2017, he defeated incumbent Broadwater MP Verity Barton for LNP preselection to contest the 2017 election. He subsequently won the Broadwater seat and returned to parliament in November 2017. In December 2017, after the election of Deb Frecklington as Leader of the Opposition, Crisafulli was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Environment, Science and the Great Barrier Reef, and Shadow Minister for Tourism.